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*Disclosure: I am working with the Michigan Renaissance Festival this year to bring you this post. The opinions expressed here, however, are my own.

Full disclosure: I've never actually been to the Michigan Renaissance Festival, commonly known as Ren Fest. That's about to change this year, though!

The Ren Fest is located on Dixie Hwy. in Holly (easily reachable off of I-75). I've heard a lot of good things about it, but have never been, so I'm excited to visit it this year. I've even had friends who made their own corsets before they attended Ren Fest (though of course that's optional!).

More about what's new at Ren Fest this year:

The Michigan Renaissance Festival is back and celebrating 39 years of family fun - from small beginnings at Columbierre, to one of Michigan’s finest regional attractions.

The Michigan Renaissance Festival was first held in 1979 in Clarkston. This inaugural Festival featured renaissance dancing, archery contests, jugglers, mimes and madrigals. The Renaissance Festival attracted 11,000 patrons during its 5-weekend event. As attendance to the popular event grew, so did the number of artisans, demonstrations, entertainers and foods.

The show has continued to develop fans throughout the years, offering more each year in entertainment, education, food and art. Now seeing the more than 250,000 fans a year, the Festival has provided opportunities for fans to escape from this realm and journey into a time when Kings and Queens rule and Mermaids and Fairies are more than just a dream.

Featured for 2017:

All New! Merlin’s Magic Quest: Discover the festival through new eyes as you join in our interactive, all-day Adventure Quest. You will follow clues, solve puzzles and engage in battles of wits. Experience comedy, danger, and the mystical while meeting people to enhance your festival experience. Join the Quest to bring magic back to Hollygrove with the help of nobles and scoundrels alike.

All New! Throne of Swords Pub: Wander beyond the Wall, through The Seven Kingdoms and sit on the ominous Throne of Swords while sipping on cocktails in the All New Throne of Swords pub.

All New! Live Unicorn!: Meet a magical unicorn. Now is your chance to capture a photo and be awed by an amazing mythical creature.

All New! Obstacle Course: Visit that Valley of Aberdare to test your strength, balance and coordination on the all new obstacle course. The bravest and most noble knights will have to overcome a series of obstacles in order to be dubbed worthy of the round table.

All New! Bloody Mary Bar: Whether you like them sweet or savory, visit The Pickled Onion to try out some of these all new Festival Creations.

The Michigan Renaissance Festival is a first-class experience whose 39th season begins on August 19, 2017 and ends on October 1, 2017. The Festival is open weekends and Labor Day, plus Friday September 29, 2017 from 10 am – 7 pm rain or shine. Admission at the gate: Adults $22.95; Children 5-12 $13.95; four and under are free! Discount tickets are available at participating Kroger, Walgreens, Goodwill and Menards stores or online at www.MichRenFest.com.

GIVEAWAY:

I have family 4-packs for Ren Fest for two of my lucky readers to win!

The tickets are for general admission and valid any weekend of the festival (August 19 to October 1, 2017).

Enter via the widget below. Giveaway will end on Friday, August 18th, at 11:59pm EST, and winners will be notified the next day via email, and have 24 hours to respond, or an alternate winner will be chosen.

Must live within driving distance of Holly, MI to enter this giveaway.

So we've all been there ... that time when you're on an important phone call, and then the call drops. Or even when you need to use the internet on your smartphone, only to realize that you're at your data limit for the month.

I drive all over the metro Detroit area for movie screenings; because of this, most of the time I know where I'm going, but sometimes, I'm in an unfamiliar area or at an unfamiliar theater and I need GPS to know how to get there and back.

A few months ago, I was headed to the AMC Forum (Sterling Heights area) and I wanted to know the best way to get home from there. My phone kept stalling ... and stalling ... and then the Maps app crashed! Gah! I was extremely frustrated. I was finally able to re-start the phone and get safely home, but it TOOK. SO. LONG. Had the Maps app worked the fir…

*Disclosure: This is a sponsored post. The opinions expressed here, however, are my own. As long-time readers of this blog surely know, I travel quite a lot. A few years ago, I only took about 2-3 trips per year, not including trips in the state of Michigan (Grand Haven weekends, etc.), but this past year, I was fortunate in that I was able to travel very frequently.

I recently heard about a new travel site, DirectHotels.com, which is similar to Kayak.com, in that it searches all of the other travel sites (Orbitz, Expedia, etc.) to find the best deals for you. I gave it a bit of a test run to see if that is indeed true.

About the site:
DirectHotels.com is a new hotel comparison tool that challenges the big brands. Travelers can easily compare all the travel sites in one place to find the cheapest hotel. DirectHotels.com compares over 200 bookings sites, so users can be sure about its accuracy. Using DirectHotels.com means that you will never overpay.

I've written these past two years about Bookstock, a huge used book & media sale that takes place at Laurel Park Place, in Livonia, and it's returning again this year, from Sunday, 4/22 through Sunday, 4/29.Read more about the event over at my book blog! I was finally able to check it out last year, and they had a large mix of books and media (including DVDs, Blu-rays, and records).To learn more about Bookstock, click hereto visit my book blog, or visit their official site here.